


Right Before It Broke

by DoeEyedButterFly



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-06 14:27:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16834420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoeEyedButterFly/pseuds/DoeEyedButterFly
Summary: We all know about Chloe's BFF Max, but what about Rachel?Did she have a best friend back in California?





	1. darkness and bitterness don't mix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *** audio version: https://youtu.be/7A9pYDHnkGA ***

The grip around the wine bottle she was supposed to share with Rachel, but almost finished entirely by herself tightened, as Chloe opened her mouth to let out a deep sigh.

"I just always go back to that moment you know... asking myself what the hell I did wrong... where exactly I fucked it all up and I just... can't find an answer. I just can't..." Her voice broke, not even a silent cry escaped her throat anymore. She desperately needed someone to take care of her, someone with a helping hand, someone insuring long lasting support. Today was hard. Today hurt, even more than the first Christmas without Dad.

Chloe's head felt heavy on the self-proclaimed therapist's knee. "Seventeen... what a shitty age too. Not a child anymore but too young to party, too young too drink, to young to date anyone..."  
"You were seventeen. I was seventeen", Rachel remarked and cocked a brow.

"Good point." Chloe took another big gulp, way too fast though, and choked as a result. Coughing continously, she cursed the day she was born, trying hard to eliminate the thought that today was not about her.

"I mean, she spent so much time in my house, that Mom and Dad started to call her their second daughter. We were inseparably. Really... I can still remember the weekend I turned twelve, I begged my Dad to let Max stay over and we'd be waching one shark show after another until it was very late... gory and bloody and hella awesome, we had a great time. That night, I had to sleep on the bottom of my bunk bed because Max was so convinced, they could get to her somehow... I woke up because I could feel her shiver so much, that I decided to climb up in the middle of the night and hold her, so she could sleep at least a little. i promised her back then, I would never leave her side and always protect her from all the evil this world has to offer and that's what I did... or, well... tried to do. " Chloe sniffed, her eyes burned.

Rachel softly stroked the hair out of Chloe's face but didn't dare to say a single word. The blue-haired girl rarely opened up about her feelings, hardly ever allowed herself to get so emotional while walking down memory lane. Sometimes it was best to just be quiet and listen.

How much Rachel would love to have a little sip of wine, the lioness had been under the impresson, they were celebrating a birthday here, at the junkard, out in the open, sitting on top of the truck, it was getting kinda chilly and even with Chloe curled up in her lap, Rachel had to button up her shirt a bit, it was September after all.

"I wonder if she's still afraid of sharks." Chloe lifted the bottle one more time. What a sad birthday party, she really should have brought more booze.  
Rachel took a deep breath. "I can't give you the answers to your questions, you will have to find and ask her yourself or wait and when she comes to visit, you two will have a lot of talking and explaining to do, either way, I am not going to hold you back or get stuck in the middle of it."

"Are you kidding me right now?! Oh I've got nothing to say to the bitch! Nothing at all. Ever. And please, she won't set foot into Arcadia Bay ever again. Why would she come visit? She didn't so far. Can't even really blame her for that, hah! Not one person who ever made it out of here, came back. Not one! Besides, I am definitely not interested in anything she has to say."

"Chloe..."

"No!"

"Come on."

"She can go straight to hell!" The taller girl's echo yelled "hell" again and again, right back at them.

"What the fuck are you even suggesting? You know how things are. What are you fucking telling me?" There it was again, Rachel was aware of what was happening right at this very moment. Since they were closer than anyone and Rachel wasn't that quick to judge, Chloe directed all of her anger towards her.

Rachel tried to remain calm, breathing in- and exhaling slowly. "Every story has two sides Chloe, whatever her reasons may be, at least listen to what she has to say. She could really surprise you, you know."

"What could she possibly have to say to me, after all this time?" Anger and bitterness began to mix, Chloe's mood changed so drastically and faster than a traffic light, although used to it, Rachel tried to avoid situations like this whenever she could, however, she was here today to give comfort and to be a shoulder to cry on, today was hard, today hurt.

Another deep breath, this would be a long one. "Have I ever told you about my BFF?"


	2. through the overlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part II, where we find out about Rachel's BFF from Long Beach
> 
> *** audio version: https://youtu.be/MaNmKqF3K2k ***

"You will have to forgive her eventually, also yourself you know, if you ever want to move on and be free."  
The blue-haired girl shook her head. Forgiving Max? For not keeping her promise or for bailing on her for years now? And what did this have to do with Rachel's... BFF? Weird, they were able to talk about everything and anyone but never before was any BFF from Long Beach mentioned.   
  
  
"The summer I turned 14, my best friend and I climbed the fire stairs until we made it to the roof of a gym and sat on the overlight. It wasn't a big deal, we had done it a million times before, like every teen, living in that area. It was her birthday actually and that night we went crazy, it was also the first time she had told me... well, she told me, that she couldn't see me as just a friend anymore and that she had kept her feelings to herself for a very long time. I wasn't expecting that, first I thought, she was joking or messing with me, but then I realized that she was serious and I totally freaked and lost my shit. She got up to leave, she was understandably upset, but I wouldn't let her. I grabbed her hand and pulled her back down and that was when it happened. The overlight broke and we fell right through it, 59 feet into the darkness." _(18 meters)_  
  
Chloe held her breath. Some other girl was in love with Rachel once. In a different time, in a different life. 59 feet...

Rachel's beautiful hazel eyes filled with tears. "I was conscious for just one moment. I asked her how bad it was. She didn't answer, that was when I knew... When I woke up, I was in the hospital. Everything hurt, I couldn't move, was on heavy pain meds. Breathing was a challenge. Every bone in my body was broken. I had a spleen removal and later learned that the surgery on my head alone took over fifty hours, it was split open completely at one point. When they initially called our parents, they didn't know what to tell them because we were so covered in blood, that they couldn't identify us. All they could tell them, was that one was still fighting, the other... wasn't."  
  
Chloe couldn't believe her ears, both of the girls had been injured before but not to that extreme and they were always able to take great care of each other, as well as giving each other hope and comfort. She shuddered at the thought of Rachel being hooked up to different medical machines, covered in bandages and miserable, losing her angel was not an option, ever.

"Weeks had passed", the blond girl continued. "I missed her funeral, I never got to say goodbye to her." Rachel's voice broke, she seemed so tiny and vulnerable all of a sudden. "I later overheard a nurse tell my Dad: 'Every story has two sides. Your daughter's story is that she survived because she fell on top of her best friend. That other girl's story is, that her best friend fell on top of her and that is what broke her neck'..."  
  
Chloe reached up to Rachel's face, to put her hand on the girl's cheek, not knowing what to say. This was the worst thing she ever heard in her entire life.

"Our parents never spoke after what happened and some kids at school even went so far as to say, the wrong one died... I've been living with a lot of guilt, asking myself, what I could have done, what I should have said intead, where we should have been and what if... always what if... we moved here the following year and I swore myself, I would never get so attached to anyone ever again... oh well, here we are, you and I."  
  
Silence.   
  
None of them dared to say a word or make a noise. Chloe's bitterness changed into sadness, but also something else. Compassion.  
The fingers that were still softly rubbing Rachel's face, lowered, until Chloe's hand was in her own lap again.  
  
After another moment of absolute quietness, Rachel continued. "I guess, what I am trying to tell you, is... yes, you have every right to be mad and I understand, I really do but there are two sides. Always. Forgiving is not forgetting Chloe, it's not being ok with what happened to you or letting just anyone walk all over you or just giving in. It's a willingness to see the person who wronged you in the light of love, rather than in the action that happened itself and actually finding the strenth in yourself and for yourself, to change the perception. Letting go of the past that you thought you wanted. Giving up the hope, that the past could be any different, than it actually was. To acknowledge that, is what will free you in the end." 

Tears streamed down Chloe's face. She shook her head to make them go away, still not comfortable crying in front of anyone else, something that would never change.This was so much bigger than her.  
  
"What if it hurts too much?" 

"Oh it will. Most certainly. This is something I had to learn as well, my father taught me, after the accident... it's a process.  
Accepting the fact that something has happened to you or someone did something to you and how you deal with it later. That's why I don't hold grudges against anyone. I try so hard, living without guilt, without shame, without the terror that is my own imagination - wishing that I could change the past. Because I can't and I never will."

With that, Rachel closed her eyes, just for a second, then opend them again, to take a closer look at Chloe, to see, if her girl got the message. Maybe the most important one of her life. 

"THAT is what makes me strong Chloe. I'm invincible now. Don't let the past hold you prisoner and deprive you of your future. Let go. Set yourself free."

"Invincible...", nothing more than a whisper. Chloe's free hand reached for Rachel's fingers and squeezed them tightly. "You are the strongest person I know."  
The girl with the blue feather ear-ring, slightly blowing in the wind, smiled at her sadly. "I love you too."  


Chloe swallowed hard, then cleared her throat. There was nothing to add. Nothing left to say.

She finally loosened her grip and let go of the now empty wine bottle she was holding on to, for dear life.  
It slid down the wind shield of her beloved truck and rolled over the hood, out of sight, out of mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is based on real life events, happening almost exactly as described by Rachel, back in 2015, the same year LIS came out, in a small town close to where I am living right now.  
> Please stay safe and take care of yourself and other people, especially the ones you love.
> 
> (additional: the best friend has a name in my mind but I chose not to "write it out loud" because I want you to insert a name of your choice, she really could be anyone)
> 
> Thank you for reading <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this story, I started writing it back in August and then paused for a while.  
> I part it into 2 chapters, bc it got so long.


End file.
